Once again the Lord has enabled us to journey through Advent, and all too quickly we have come to these final days before Christmas. They are days marked by a unique spiritual climate made up of emotions, memories and signs, both liturgical and otherwise, such as the crèche. It is in this climate that this traditional meeting takes place with you, the superiors and officials of the Roman Curia, who cooperate daily in the service of the Church. I greet all of you with affection. Allow me to extend a special greeting to Archbishop Pietro Parolin, who recently began his service as Secretary of State, and who needs our prayers!

While our hearts are full of gratitude to God, who so loved us that he gave us his only-begotten Son, it is also good to make room for gratitude to one another. In this, my first Christmas as the Bishop of Rome, I also feel the need to offer sincere thanks to all of you as a community of service, and to each of you individually. I thank you for the work which you do each day: for the care, diligence and creativity which you display; and for your effort – I know it is not always easy – to work together in the office, both to listen to and to challenge one another, and to bring out the best in all your different personalities and gifts, in a spirit of mutual respect.

In a particular way, I want to express my gratitude to those now concluding their service and approaching retirement. As priests and bishops, we know full well that we never really retire, but we do leave the office, and rightly so, not least to devote ourselves more fully to prayer and the care of souls, starting with our own! So a very special and heartfelt “thank you” goes to those of you who have worked here for so many years with immense dedication, hidden from the eyes of the world. This is something truly admirable. I have such high regard for these “Monsignori” who are cut from the same mould as the curiales of olden times, exemplary persons. We need them today, too! People who work with competence, precision and self-sacrifice in the fulfilment of their daily duties. Here I would like to mention some of them by name, as a way of expressing my esteem and my gratitude, but we know that, in any list, the first names people notice are the ones that are missing! Besides, I would also risk overlooking someone and thus committing an injustice and a lack of charity. But I want to say to these brothers of ours that they offer a very important witness in the Church’s journey through history.

This mould and this witness make me think of two hallmarks of the curial official, and even more of curial superiors, which I would like to emphasize: professionalism and service.

Professionalism, by which I mean competence, study, keeping abreast of things. This is a basic requisite for working in the Curia. Naturally, professionalism is something which develops and is in part acquired; but I think that, precisely for it to develop and to be acquired, there has to be a good foundation from the outset.

The second hallmark is service: service to the Pope and to the bishops, to the universal Church and to the particular Churches. In the Roman Curia, one learns – in a real way, “one breathes in” – this twofold aspect of the Church, this interplay of the universal and the particular. I think that this is one of the finest experiences of those who live and work in Rome: “to sense” the Church in this way. When professionalism is lacking, there is a slow drift downwards towards mediocrity.

Dossiers become full of trite and lifeless information and incapable of opening up lofty perspectives. Then, too, when the attitude is no longer one of service to the particular Churches and their bishops, the structure of the Curia turns into a ponderous, bureaucratic customs house, constantly inspecting and questioning, hindering the working of the Holy Spirit and the growth of God’s people.

To these two qualities of professionalism and service, I would also like to add a third, which is holiness of life. We know very well that, in the hierarchy of values, this is the most important.

Indeed, it is basic for the quality of our work, our service. And I want to say here that in the Roman Curia, there have been and there are saints; I have said this in public more than once, to thank the Lord. Holiness means a life immersed in the Spirit, a heart open to God, constant prayer, deep humility and fraternal charity in our relationships with our fellow workers. It also means apostleship, discreet and faithful pastoral service, zealously carried out in direct contact with God’s people. For priests, this is indispensable.

Holiness in the Curia also means conscientious objection to gossip! We rightfully insist on the importance of conscientious objection but perhaps we, too, need to exercise it as a means of defending ourselves from an unwritten law of our surroundings, which unfortunately is that of gossip. So let us all be conscientious objectors; and mind you, I am not simply preaching! Gossip is harmful to people, our work and our surroundings.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us feel close to one another on this final stretch of the road to Bethlehem. We would do well to meditate on Saint Joseph, who was so silent yet so necessary at the side of Our Lady. Let us think about him and his loving concern for his Spouse and for the Baby Jesus. This can tell us a lot about our own service to the Church! So let us experience this Christmas in spiritual closeness to Saint Joseph.

I thank you most heartily for your work and especially for your prayers. Truly I feel “borne aloft” by your prayers and I ask you to continue to support me in this way. I, too, remember you before the Lord, and I impart my blessing as I offer my best wishes for a Christmas filled with light and peace for each of you and for all your dear ones. Happy Christmas!

“The traveller is far away from home
He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances
Tells him that his chances
Are better out on the road
But, if we are the body
If we are the body
Why aren’t His feet going?
Why aren’t His Hands Healing?
Why aren’t His lips moving?
Why aren’t our words showing them there is a way?
Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come!
And we are the Body of Christ.
So, if we are the body ...”

YES. Without repenting of our own SINS trying to do good is an illusion, self deception.

Posted by Magnesium on Friday, Dec, 27, 2013 8:02 PM (EST):

Since there is no god and Jesus and Mary have been dead (and stayed dead) for over 2,000 years, I don’t think they can be insulted.

I know you are insulted—but that’s your choice. The difference between my darkness and your darkness is that I can look at my own badness in the face and accept its existence while you are busy covering your mirror with a white sheet. The difference between my sins and your sins is that when I sin I know I’m sinning while you have actually fallen prey to your own fabricated illusions. Those who plead their cause in the absence of an opponent can invent to their heart’s content, can pontificate without taking into account the opposite point of view and keep the best arguments for themselves, for aggressors are always quick to attack those who have no means of defense.

Christians have their own Jihads - holy wars. Instead though of killing people physically, they kill them with their words, with their rejection, with their hatred, with their hypocrisy.

Posted by Grace Kim on Friday, Dec, 27, 2013 10:50 AM (EST):

@magnesium, go where you belong! If you enjoy wasting your time by insulting Jesus(God) and his mother, you only harm your soul! Praying for you!

JN.1.3;PROVS.16.4;PS.8.4;ROMS.9.20;ISA..45.7;HAB.1.5;MAL.3;4;MT.17.11
(REV.3.19);1 JN.4.19;2 JN.6;MT.22.37-40.
FRANCIS-
Vicar(s) of The man-‘creature’-made House of Organized-External Religion
be but Satan’s DITTO MAN(men)/Matthew 16.22,23;2 Cor.11.13-15;Rev.17.5;18
.4,8,10,23 who’in-works’,be but of same DEVIL/OLD SERPENT/DRAGON-‘Satan
transformed into an angel of light-‘LUCIFER;‘s IMAGERY- WORD TALK (GEN.3
.1;JN.8.44;14.30;2 Thess.2.3,4;2 Cor.11.13-15;Job 41;Isa.14;Rev.2.9;3.9
;12.4,7,9,12;Lk.11.29;Jn.16.7-15;Mt.18.3;Rev.3.19;Mt.22.37-40;28.18-20;17
.11;2 Jn.;Jer.31.22;Zech.4;5;Gal.1.8,9;3;4.26—-one -‘in-works’, with the
synagogue of Satan’s people/rev.2.9;3.9—-all of the same reprobate mind
and delusional state/Roms.1.28;Isa.66.4;1 Cor.3.19;4.5;Ps.2.4,5—-the sufferers of the same (spirit-mind-body) disease. PERIOD !

JEALOUS’ ELIJAH with JEALOUS’ ICUICN at JEALOUS’ JEALOUSY

Posted by Dr Madhavan on Tuesday, Dec, 24, 2013 11:09 PM (EST):

I am so inspired and grateful
“You are immense, and you made yourself small; you are rich, and you made yourself poor; you are all-powerful and you made yourself vulnerable,” this is exactly what Upanishads of India states. his Holiness Pope Francis is hope to this world. He will be our pole start. Touching his humble holy feet I prostrate and say PRANAM

Bloggers, please welcome once in a while some funny Teenagers. Were you not Teenagers once?

Posted by Magnesium on Monday, Dec, 23, 2013 9:03 PM (EST):

Jesus Christ, Mary! Do you want some cheese with your whine?

Posted by Mary on Monday, Dec, 23, 2013 1:14 AM (EST):

Some of these posts should be deleted!!!

Brenda that is very funny about too much magnesium ;}

CHRIST IS THE REASON FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

Posted by JERRY on Monday, Dec, 23, 2013 12:35 AM (EST):

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL- I DON’T NEED ALL THESE SCHOLAR’S

Posted by Magnesium on Sunday, Dec, 22, 2013 8:46 PM (EST):

But then, both of you are tight-ass.

Posted by Magnesium on Sunday, Dec, 22, 2013 8:44 PM (EST):

What does the Winter Solstice have to do with faith? It happens, period, and periodically. It says nothing supporting or denying any religion.

PS—your husband would be constipated without magnesium.

Posted by Brenda Dooley on Sunday, Dec, 22, 2013 7:57 PM (EST):

Dear readers,
I think it is unfortunate that there are those who would like to detract and distract us from our beautiful Faith and as we all know they will always be lurking about with silly pseudo names quite unwilling to identify themselves. I do however feel sorry for those without faith
. It is my great love for this Catholic Faith that prompted me to read the words of Pope Francis’ address to the Roman Curia. Most significant to me were the words professionalism, service and holiness and what that means to the Vatican as well as to each one of us.
I am grateful for the National Catholic Register because it is a publication that is dedicated to TRUTH. Postings are simply each reader’s platform to respond to what we have read. I would like those who supposedly monitor these posting to block responses that do not even remotely have anything to do with the report or the article.
Respectfully BD
PS my husband said, ” too much magnesium gives him diarhea :)

Posted by Emma on Sunday, Dec, 22, 2013 2:03 PM (EST):

I don’t observe the solstice in either sense, religious or as a scientific phenomona. I do acknowledge it, however. It is the first sign of hope. The time when we can see and gain hope that the long, darkness that covers the earth is breaking and giving way to light. A happenstance that points to spring. As we rush from office Christmas parties, to the mall, through all the madness of early pagan customs (and who here doesn’t Christmas Shop?), it is one of the first physical signs that tells us, “The darkness is moving aside and giving way to the Light. This craziness will end and peace will reign with the birth of a new King! ” How’s that song go? “Long lay the world in sin and error pining, ‘til He appearred and the soul felt it’s worth. ” Happy solstice Magnesium AND Merry Christmas!

Posted by Magnesium on Sunday, Dec, 22, 2013 12:52 PM (EST):

Christ wasn’t born on Christmas… it is believed he was born in the spring. It was Pope Julius I that declared Dec 25th as the Birth of Christ as a move to absorb the Celebration of Saturnalia into “Christianity”. The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically Christian about Saturnalia.

Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city. An eyewitness account reports, “Before they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators. They ran… amid Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily.

Many who are excitedly preparing for their Christmas celebrations would prefer not knowing about the holiday’s real significance. If they do know the history, they often object that their celebration has nothing to do with the holiday’s monstrous history and meaning. “We are just having fun.”

I don’t observe the Winter Solstice in a religious sense—just as a scientific phenomenon that is awesome in itself and doesn’t depend on any religion.

Posted by Stephen Browning on Sunday, Dec, 22, 2013 12:26 PM (EST):

I wish to express my profound appreciation
for the former service in the the Vatican
Secretary of State as the second in charge
of Vatican Administration, Archbishop
Carlo Maria Vigano. A man much like
St. Joseph in his service to the Church,
as current Papal Nuncio to the United
States.

Posted by Nick Rao on Sunday, Dec, 22, 2013 12:07 PM (EST):

Tim, Tim, Tim…. what difference does it make… the Annunciation can and should be celebrated everyday, for it was through the Holy Spirit that Jesus came to save our souls.

Posted by americantruth on Saturday, Dec, 21, 2013 11:58 PM (EST):

Magnesium , I am a Christian and know as you say the paganist history of this xmas celebration. Also not mentioned by magnesium, the religion of Christ (worship in spirit and truth) was changed by the church if rome in many ways long ago at the Nicene council. It is ehat caused the schism between eastern orthodox and catholicism and the errors of which AND MORE were passed on by Martin Luther into Protestantism.

Posted by Magnesium on Saturday, Dec, 21, 2013 8:04 PM (EST):

@Istandwithhim: Right back at you! Obviously you can’t stand that I don’t believe the same as you do and you disdain me.
Still, I don’t get why you’re upset about the Solstice—it is not a religious belief. The Solstice is a natural event in our universe that you contend was created by your god. Is it that there is observable and repeated evidence that the Solstice happens, or the fact that you don’t need “faith” to appreciate the physics of the material universe?

I’m constantly told by believers that all I have to do is look around and see the beauty and order of the world to “know that god is our creator.” Now you reject one of the cosmic events in the universe as a denial of your god. What is your problem with Solstices and Equinoxes?

Posted by IStandWithHim on Saturday, Dec, 21, 2013 6:00 PM (EST):

The best way to silence people who think the rest of the world should believe as they do is to ignore them. Intolerance and disdain for the beliefs of others, such as that displayed here by Magnesium, is like a disease seeking victims. You cannot heal this person by trying to reason with him. You do not owe Magnesium an explanation for why you believe as you do—that is between you and God. This “infection” obviously cannot be cured; it thrives on your feedback. Ignore it and let it starve to death.

Posted by Magnesium on Saturday, Dec, 21, 2013 4:26 PM (EST):

Why is everyone so upset about a physical phenomenon? Solstices happen twice a year, as do equinoxes. It’s just an observance without the bias of religion. It happens whether there is a god or not. Can’t anyone here appreciate that?

Posted by Magnesium on Saturday, Dec, 21, 2013 4:13 PM (EST):

Where is it documented that jesus was born on March 25th? Is there a birth certificate?

Posted by Magnesium on Saturday, Dec, 21, 2013 4:11 PM (EST):

Tim—so what? Do you think church “fathers” couldn’t count backwards?

Posted by Tim Mason on Saturday, Dec, 21, 2013 1:21 PM (EST):

Magnesium, Here is a tidbit for you to consider….the Annunciation has been recognized as being March 25th since well before Christmas was celebrated, and if one adds nine months to March 25th one ends up at December 25th. Pagan celebrations nonwithstanding, there is ample evidence to believe December 25th was derived without regard to pagan celebrations. Further, as to having it both ways, we call those miracles. It requires faith and reason both to see this. So, as you seem to be one who wants to learn and share knowledge, here is a link for you to read: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_15101998_fides-et-ratio_en.html

Magnesium, go away already with your painful barking. This is a Catholic publication, and Catholics and Christians find their true joy only in their Lord, Jesus Christ. Since you appear to be ignorant of even that most basic fact and aren’t prepared to respect it as such, quit playing smarty pants with your unsolicited and meaningless advice in this combox. Yeah, run away now and lose yourself in your solstices or whatever else tickles your infantile fancy. Thank you.

Posted by Magnesium on Saturday, Dec, 21, 2013 11:52 AM (EST):

Jesus was supposed to have appeared in the physical universe, in violation of physical laws, wasn’t he? You can’t have it both ways.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states: “though the abundance of analogous midwinter festivals may indefinitely have helped the choice of the December date, the same instinct which set Natalis Invicti at the winter solstice will have sufficed, apart from deliberate adaptation or curious calculation, to set the Christian feast there too.”

So Christians can appreciate the Winter Solstice too. Stop being such a hateful Catholic, Robert.

Posted by robert waligora on Saturday, Dec, 21, 2013 11:33 AM (EST):

MAGNESIUM…it was the Lord Jesus that created this physical universe…take your winter solstice p.c. trash

Posted by Magnesium on Saturday, Dec, 21, 2013 11:11 AM (EST):

Today, December 21st, is the day of the Winter Solstice. Take a moment to think of your relationship with the physical universe. You don’t need Jesus to experience the beauty of the season.
Happy Holidays!

Posted by Marie Dean on Saturday, Dec, 21, 2013 9:42 AM (EST):

Thank you for posting this so quickly. Many of the points here are little gems to be looked at more closely. Pope Francis is truly being a pastor.

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Edward Pentin began reporting on the Pope and the Vatican with Vatican Radio before moving on to become the Rome correspondent for the National Catholic Register. He has also reported on the Holy See and the Catholic Church for a number of other publications including Newsweek, Newsmax,Zenit, The Catholic Herald, and The Holy Land Review, a Franciscan publication specializing in the Church and the Middle East. Edward is the author of “The Rigging of a Vatican Synod? An Investigation into Alleged Manipulation at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family”, published by Ignatius Press. Follow him on Twitter @edwardpentin